Filmmaker Paolo Virzì’s enviable talent for dialogue shines brightly in this excellent ‘dramedy’ about two very different women who go on a road-trip of Thelma and Louise proportions.
Beatrice (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) and Donatella (Micaela Ramazzotti) meet in a psychiatric institution. While Beatrice is a brash, unhinged chatterbox; the institute’s newcomer, Donatella, is fragile and withdrawn. Still, Beatrice seeks out friendship with this punkish introvert and, during day release at a nursery, they board a bus and commence their girls-only adventure.
Steeped in saturated visuals that perfectly reflect the warmth of a Tuscan summer sun, Like Crazy avoids the pitfalls of other films of its ilk, carefully retaining its tonal and thematic balance. The chuckles and tears keep coming in equal measures from start right through to finish.
Like Crazy, which was unveiled at Cannes in May this year, was the most-awarded film at the 2016 Nastro d’Argento Awards (Italian National Syndicate of Journalists Awards) where it collected five Silver Ribbons.
